2019: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2019, it is time to take a look back at the 28 books I read over the past year, an increase of 6 books over last year.  Of those 28, 7 were non-fiction and, of the 21 novels, only 3 were tied to a TV show.  Only one of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, 19 were e-books, and, for the first time, there was 1 audio book.  I read nearly 9,500 pages, my second highest total of all time.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 15 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Bill Clinton
  • Charles Willeford
  • Nell Scovell
  • Ernest Cline
  • Katrin Schumann
  • Lindy West
  • Luke Jennings
  • Agatha Christie
  • W. P. Kinsella
  • Aziz Ansari
  • John Gregory Betancourt
  • Julie Gregory
  • Mindy Kaling
  • Anthony Stevens
  • Louis Strauss
  • Dean Wesley Smith
  • Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  • Nell Zink
  • Stephanie Wittels Wachs

Jeffery Deaver and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2019.

5 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1934.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  My vacation to Hawaii in February and being off in December certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit.

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Book 4 (of 52) – Just The Funny Parts

Just The Funny Parts: …And A Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into The Hollywood Boys’ Club – Nell Scovell

Television writer and producer Nell Scovell looks back at her career in this funny and biting memoir.  She tells the story of her career, starting in magazines, moving to television and movies, and teaming with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on her book Lean In.  Usually one of the only women in the writing room, Scovell was only the second female writer hired by Late Night with David Letterman and, following Letterman’s 2009 admission of improper “relationships” with female staffers, she wrote an essay in Vanity Fair calling his show a “hostile work environment” for women.  Besides Late Night, Scovell has written for The Simpsons, The Wilton North ReportCoachMonkMurphy BrownCharmedNewhartThe CriticNCIS, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast, amongst others.  She also created Sabrina The Teenage Witch, adapting the Archie Comics character for ABC.

Odds are good that you have seen a program written by Scovell at some point over the last 3 decades.  She tales a serious subject, the roadblocks to a writing/directing/producing career in Hollywood for women, and wrapped it in funny anecdotes of her time bringing beloved characters to life.  Hopefully this work opens more opportunities for her, and others like her.